Burning Bridges
by Space Pirate Trooper
Summary: SPD When the city is attacked in 5 different places, Bridge draws the short straw. Now faced with tough choices and a voice constantley talking to him, will the rangers be defeated? Chapter 8 short but up... R
1. The Attack

Welcome, welcome to another of my overly random stories

Welcome, welcome to another of my overly random stories. Much MUCH Bridge whumping. I'm so overly mean when it comes to these kinds of stories. I'll have to write another, nicer one for poor Bridge at some point, won't I? D;

-

The robot took out a small building now, a huge metallic claw slicing through the stone like it was butter. Time seemed to stand still as bricks and metal tumbled into the streets below, citizens of New Tech City feeling for their lives, having left their homes behind them.

That is what had happened in the time it had taken for the megazord to combine. Sure, the robot was taken out quickly once the thing was assembled and online but it wasn't quickly enough.

Bridge sat on his bed. Well, sat was a loose application of the word. It was more of a shoulder stand, his legs resting on the wall. Surely Kat could come up with a way of the megazord forming faster? Maybe he could play with the electronics a little, fiddle with the systems... If he broke them, Kat could fix them. Sure, they wouldn't have the zords for a few days but that wouldn't matter. It was all for the greater good.

Sky came into the room at that moment and, even with his empathy powers suppressed by his gloves, Bridge read a huge wave of boredom from Sky. Unusual seeing as Sky's shielding often made it hard to read him.

"Hey Sky." He said after a moment, waving from his upside down position. This unbalanced him and he flopped to his side on the bed, staring curiously at his friend. Sky went and sat down on his own bed and frowned, silent. Bridge was about to comment further when the alarms went off. Sky almost smiled.

"Duty calls."

-

The rest of the team were already assembled by the time Bridge and Sky got there. Kat was waiting for them with the commander. Cruger look even more stern then usual if that were possible. Kat stepped forwards to speak, and gestured to the screen. It showed a map of the city, 5 separate points highlighted and flashing, several of them slowly moving but one completely still.

"Rangers, there's no where near enough time for a long briefing. Five separate attacks throughout the city, no idea what any of them are." She nodded to Cruger who stood firmly, his hands behind his back.

"You heard her, Rangers. Move out."

-

The Rangers split up, as was necessary to tackle all five enemies at the same time. They had each got tracking with them for the criminals they sought, which showed the general area. Once in, they'd have to look around themselves (unless the enemy chose to attack them first).

In their respective locations, Jack and Syd stumbled across their enemies first… blue head krybots. Well, at least they weren't the top lot of Gruumm's minions.

Syd got into the fighting first of the rangers, launching a surprise kick from behind the blue head. She drew her sword fluidly, the inner circuitry of the robot sharply exposed as she sent two quick slashes across its torso.

Its retort was a flurry of attacks, each of them dodged and the final one neatly vaulted. Syd came down on the other side of the bad guy, a final swing of the sword neatly rendering the 'bot offline.

-

At the near same moment, Jack finished his own blue-head foe, a quick set of bursts from his duel blasters making the thing fizzle into a heap then explode loudly.

"Easy." Jack said smugly. But he spoke too soon as the comms crackled into life. Z's words were laced with her concentration on fighting, pauses obvious where she was too busy to even speak.

"Need… Backup!" She all but shouted, a laser blast heard in the background. No sooner had she spoke then Sky too spoke up.

"I could use a hand as well." He said, his voice also broken into bits by the mob he faced.

Jack made a decision. "Syd, go to Z, I'll go to Sky." He said this over the comms so the others would hear. "And Bridge, be careful." He added, knowing the green ranger was rather prone to getting into weird situations, before heading quickly towards Sky, as fast as he could manage.

-

Bridge was all alone. He hadn't seen any sign of any enemy and hadn't even morphed yet. He frowned slightly at the tracker in his hand. The guy was around here somewhere, right? It was confusing times like this when he needed a handstand and a piece of toast. After a moment, he pulled off a glove and checked the auras left in the air around him. Gesturing broadly, he saw the somewhat faded shape of a criminal.

"Ah, there you are." He said with a smile, pocketing the tracker and drawing his blaster, one hand still ungloved so he could continue to track the guy. The aura grew stronger as he moved after it, the colour of it feeing tingly as he walked through it a couple of times. It was virtually abandoned around here, it seemed. He couldn't pick up any auras except the crooks. That wasn't good. He paused and peered round a corner, suddenly more wary. Shuffling over to the next corner, he peered around again. It was now that Jack's message reached him and he listened to it.

"You know me, guys. I'm totally with the careful thing. Unless I'm not being careful. Then I suppose you could say I wasn't careful but careless—" He was cut off as he heard a noise. Now he had his morpher in his ungloved hand and it felt weird. His mind occasionally brought pictures of Kat making the final adjustments to it, Cruger picking it up to peer at it curiously… He quickly restored his glove and the images faded.

Picking up where he left off, except now with his morpher and his blaster in his hands, he turned down a small alley that led to the backdoor of a warehouse. The Green Ranger edged carefully down this narrow place, barely wide enough for 3 people to stand side by side, going to remove his glove and get the general aura from the door itself.

This was a mistake.

The very creature he'd been tracking chose this moment to throw itself down from the roof of the building to Bridge's left. The ranger dodged but was caught by an arm, slammed down by the sheer weight of it to the concrete. At least he had his morpher in hand… A flash of green and he suddenly felt a little more able to deal with the situation. A scything talon came towards him but he grabbed it and managed to push the foot aside, rolling away and righting himself. Seriously not enough room here.

"This is too easy, Ranger." The alien cawed in a crow like voice. "Not a challenge. My luck to get stuck with the most useless of the five. Ah well, easy pickings."

Bridge sighed inwardly. Trust his luck to be stuck with this bird-brain to fight. He wondered what his friends had gotten into, hoped that Z and Sky were okay. Bridge suddenly realised he'd forgotten to breath while thinking and took a breath, bracing himself into a fighting stance.

"More fight then I expected. But no one defeats Banshu!" The thing bristled, clacking an oversized beak with a terrible hook to it. It's black eyes stared straight at Bridge but he couldn't take his eyes off the beak. He wondered if the criminal could open walnuts like a parrot.

"You're under arrest!" He said suddenly. "Or going to be arrested. Why do people say 'under'? Maybe it should be—No wait. Stop distracting me." He shook his head. "Come quietly and… there will be no fighting?" He doubted this would sound like a good thing to the bird. Banshu clicked it's beak again then lunged forwards. Bridge blocked the first punch and was relieved for a moment. This wasn't too bad. He nearly got caught by the second punch, then neatly blocked the third. It was the sudden, taloned kicked that slammed him back to reality and he went flying, smashing into a stack of crates that had been near the warehouse door. Cornered, winded and downed, he quickly tried to regain his footing.

Banshu stalked over to him, cackling, and reached down, picking up the struggling ranger by his neck. Bridge clawed at the hand around his throat, unable to say anything and therefore unable to call for help. He stopped clawing after a moment and went to draw his sword, hanging by his neck and one arm for a moment until he delivered a slash to the creature's stomach. A horrible shriek made his blood run cold then Banshu threw him against the further wall with all it's strength.

The hit against the wall demorphed him and he landed with a thud, feeling bruises starting all over his body. He struggled up for the third.. or was it forth? Time and grabbed his morpher from where it lay a couple of feeta way.

"Guys! I seriously need some help--" He croaked into the comms, deciding he could really sue some toast after this. Banshu was back, leering over him with glee and Bridge all but curled up and awaited more punishment. He'd try and block what he could but the bird was just _so_ strong.

-

Jack hung back as Sky tackled waves of krybots, seemingly appearing from no where. He caught Bridge's message. Worried, but still a leader, he threw himself back into the fight at the Blue Ranger's side.

"Sky, go after Bridge, I'll stay here." He all but shouted, dancing around a krybot and blasting it away before jumping over it and taking out another. The blue ranger nodded simply and turned and ran, straight for his bike to get to Bridge as quickly as he could.

"Don't worry, Buddy. I'm on my way!"

-

Chapter one done. Bwaaaaaaah, I feel uber sorry for Bridge now. I;m so nasty TT; Ah well. R&R plzthnx. Also… if you have any ideas for the future of this story, please let me know! I have a vague idea what I want to do but I always like other people's perspectives!


	2. Down but not Out

Back for chapter 2!

**Ms. Fairweather: **Thank you very much! . Thank you for being my first review on this story as well!

Okay, let's go. Enjoy!

-

Banshu didn't throw the green ranger again. He simply held him high, so only the very tips of his toes grazed the floor. Even as he felt consciousness fading, he wondered at the aura of his enemy. With a glove half off, he could feel the colours around him. A twinkle of red and orange… purple…or was it blue?

Just at the point where Bridge wavered on the edge of the clawing blackness, he was dropped mercilessly to the floor. The bird had turned away from him, a hand against his stomach where the sword had hit before. Banshu looked over his shoulder.

"Fight back, green Ranger. I'm getting bored." The criminal cawed, turning back to Bridge again and peering down at him critically.

Bridge was still on the floor, trying to catch his breath again whilst subtly drawing his morpher to his mouth for the comms it offered. Seriously, where was everyone?

"Help, guys.." He muttered into the morpher. This time, the bird heard and stamped the few steps over and violently kicked the morpher out of the Green Ranger's hand, shredding gloves and skin as his claws contacted.

It was in that brief contact, talon against his skin, that he felt the creature's intent, and a sprinkle of it's memories.

_Running from planet to planet. They're all after me. Hahahah, look what I've managed to achieve._

_I helped you know_

A second voice seemed to blend with Banshu's memories and thoughts.

_I know you helped. It was mostly you. But Gruumm wants our help now_

_Yes I know he does. I was listening as well_

_Taking out the rangers should be easy._

_Only because I'm helping._

Bridge was himself again and he gasped. That was it. The criminal wanted him dead. Great. It was Banshu's top priority at the moment. Kill him, return to Gruumm, be showered in praise then target the rest of the rangers. Bridge hugged his bloody hand to himself, suddenly very much afraid of his own mortality.

-

The second call for help was heard by all four other rangers. Sky revved the engine on the bike. Nearly there. It'd soon be the warehouse district and he'd have to run from there; the bike wouldn't fit in such small places. What the hell had happened to Bridge?!

Syd and Z on the other hand now chose a similar course of action to Jack and Sky. Z would stay and fight the remaining enemies, using her powers to even the odds, while Syd went after Bridge. They relayed this via comms and Jack and Sky agreed. The Pink Ranger had been much closer then Sky and simply ran towards the call for help. She soon met up with the blue ranger as he abandoned his bike. Neither of them spoke, just running with the same urgency.

-

Bridge looked up from the floor. The bird loomed over him.

"I felt that, ranger. You were looking at my mind." The bird all but snarled, clacking its beak. Bridge scrabbled backwards as fast as he good, his back soon connecting with a wall. He risked a glance towards his morpher and saw it fizzling gently where the claws had put it out of commission. Without his glove intact, he could feel the hatred wavering off his foe. He felt like a pebble against the tide. The bird was even less happy then before, if that were possible, and it leaned over Bridge now, claws wide and ready to deal a deadly blow--

"Bridge!" Sky and Syd ran towards them. Banshu hissed, looking towards the approaching pair. The pink and blue rangers could not yet fire their weapons, though they had them aimed, lest they hit their comrade. They just approached with a speedy, focused run and Bridge suddenly felt relieved. It wasn't over though as Banshu looked back at him, taking this final opportunity. He pulled a feather from his arm, wincing as he did so. Bridge swore he felt a sound as it happened.

_An interesting idea, Banshu._

Bridge was confused. More confused then normal. Was that the bird talking to himself or what? He looked giddily up at the feather. It was long, sharp and serrated and he had a horrible feeling he knew what the bird was going to do. Kill him. With a feather. The bird gave a shriek and aimed to slam the serrated edge of the thing down on Bridge's head. The green ranger was faster. He covered his head with his arms and threw himself to one side. The feather cut deeply into his arm but fell away, clattering to the floor nearby and sounding distinctly unfeather like.

"I'll get you next time." Bashu hissed gutterally, cawing obsceneties in it's native tongue as it spread it's wings.

_Let us report to Gruum._

Bridge watched the brid fly away, removed from the pain now and thinking about the voice. What was it? Or was it who was it? Or was it that it wasn't any of the previous was it's and was, infact, a was they? He smiled faintly to himself, flopping to his back and just staring at the sky.

Sky and Syd slowed as they reached him, almost unbelieving that the bird had delivered it's final blow and flown the coop in but 30 seconds. The two rangers checked about them for more danger but it was now silent. Both demorphed and knelt by their friend, silent and serious faced. Blood smattered Bridge's clothing, spreading through the fabric most noticeably around the cut on his arm. The same arm that his hand was damaged. There was another hint of crimson from under that messy brown hair and patches of purple were evident in many places, especially around his neck. Yet, he remained unfocused and smiling on the floor, not really even registering his friend's faces though he could feel their emotions. Concern, fear, worry, caution. Ahh, it was like a floaty dream. He wriggled slightly. No breaks. Ah. Life couldn't be better. Look a cloud that looked like a piece of toast.

Suddenly he looked at Sky. "That guy was blue and red and orange and purple." He said in a jumble then blacked out, still smiling to himself.

-

The darkness slowly receded and he found four familiar faces filled with worry looking down at him.

"Hi guys. Why are you all in my room?" He mumbled before stopped and flicking his

Eyes around and picking up 'med bay' rather then 'bedroom'. "Uhh… I guess we lost, huh?" His head hurt. And they'd taken his glove off his busted hand and wrapped the back and palm in bandage. With just his fingers exposed, he could still feel a little of what they all felt. Guilt mostly. Bridge hated pity more then guilt and he could feel a little of that creeping in too. He flopped his good arm over his eyes and wriggled his exposed fingers stiffly. He felt stitches tugging at the skin there.

Sky was first to speak after a rather extended silence. "We're gonna take him in for you, Bridge. No doubt." He grimaced, folding his arms. Jack glanced at him then spoke as well.

"Sorry I couldn't get there--"

Syd interrupted, "If we'd been quicker, Bridge…" She trailed off, pouting slightly and looking at the floor.

Z was silent for a second too before speaking. "It should have been me. With my powers, I could have helped you."

None of his friends met bridge's eyes and the green ranger attempted a grin, in a vain effort to remove some of the tension. "It was just unlucky. Could have been any of us Seriously. It's like… straws. You draw the short one and BOOM cleaning the labs for two weeks." He paused, frowning under his arm. "But. I think you guys might not have found him. I had to follow his aura and it was all gooey and tingly and messed up. Kinda like sand but with… goo in it. And sparkles."

Jack and Syd looked at eachother then back to Bridge who was still talking.

"Red and orange but somehow blue as well.. But not blue blue. But red blue. But not purple." He trailed off, unsatisfied at his description.

"Uhm… Sure, Bridge." Jack said after a moment, with his usual display of trying to hide his complete lack of understanding, a slight frown on his face as he tried to make sense of it.

Kat poked her head around the door after a moment. "I hate to tear you away but let him get some rest." She said gently. Reluctantley, the others nodded and filed out silently after Kat. As soon as they were gone, Bridge dropped his fake happy expression. Nothing hurt as much as it did but he put this down to large doses of pain killer. He felt numb. His cut arm felt numb. His head hurt still though. Stupid head pain. He gently touched his ehad. A Bandage was wrapped around it tight, too tight for his liking, and made his hair stick up even more then usual. Eyes flittered about the room again but he couldn't locate his other glove, remains or otherwise. Sure, he had a spare in his room. But that was in his room and not here.

The Alarm chose that moment to go off.

"Rangers to the command centre!"

Bridge sat up and the world span. He didn't care, he needed to be there. To see what was happening. To prove to his friends that he was okay, that he could take it. With a sigh he swung his legs off the bed, his feet in socks and his boots placed a few feet away. Ah, scrap the boots he thought sullenly for a moment before getting to his feet. He sat down again, head spinning. No handstands for a while.. Picking up a bandage, he tried to cover all his fingers and ended up with a mitten instead of a hand so he abandoned the bandages again and attempted standing once more.

Bridge staggered to the door before turning back and grabbing his jacket from a chair, noting the blood stains yet to be washed out on the shoulder and cuff. He got his good arm through one sleeve and left the other loose, staggering down the corridor towards the command centre.


	3. Working Things Through

A third chapter! Already! Wow, this story is really rolling for me. The creative flow can't be stopped!

**emoprincess3587: **Thank you! I'm sure everything will work out eventually.. I have some rather intesting things planned!

**Ms. Fairweather: **Eee, I'm glad you like it! I'm also quite relieved to know I've managed to get it right.

Without further ado, let's get going..

-

Bridge arrived very, very late. As he got to the door and leaned on the door frame, giving a sloppy salute with the wrong arm, everyone simply turned to stare. With his fingers bare, he could feel the mixed feelings. Cruger's disapproval, Kat's surprise and his friends mixture of disbelief and worry. Bridge shuffled to his place in the link, holding his arm and attempting an alert expression.

No one said anything.

Cruger then drew a breath and continued. "The criminal was last see here." He indicated an industrial estate on the screen next to him. Bridge zoned out after this. There was much more being said but he couldn't bring himself to put it in the 'important' section of his mind. His arm felt funny. After a moment, the green ranger sunk to the floor, ending cross legged and vacant.

It must have been a few minutes later as the Commander said,

"Dismissed." The others seemed to know what was going on and Bridge received more then one pat of comfort or support to his good shoulder. He was left with Cruger frowning down on him. Bridge looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

"Cadet, you are to stay in the med bay. I don't know what you were trying to prove by coming here, but there is no shame in letting yourself heal."

Trust Cruger to get the wrong end of the stick… Bridge squinted slightly. Blue dog. Oh. Wait a second. Blue!

"Blue!" He all but shouted, alarming both Kat and Cruger. He scrambled to his feet clumsily and threw himself out of the door as if he were perfectly fine.

Kat looked to Cruger who looked back. "What was...?" He started and Kat just smiled.

"That's Bridge being… Bridge." She replied and set off after the green ranger.

-

Bridge went straight to the med bay room and started looking. He found all sorts of interesting things and continued to get momentarily distracted by each of them, his one able arm slowing him down considerably. He'd pushed the headache to the 'unimportant' place in his thoughts, rifling everywhere for what he needed and generally making a mess.

"This what you're looking for?"

He turned sharply to find Kat standing behind him, at the room door, Banshu's feather in her hand, safely wrapped in a specimen bag.

"Yes." He went over to her. Kat took it carefully form the bag, making a point not to cut herself on the sharp edges. Bridge touched the middle of the quill lightly with his bare fingers.

"Blue." He said.

_Yes. Blue._

"I know, I just said that."

"What?" Kat looked at him in confusion.

"Sorry... You didn't say anything?" Bridge shook his head after a moment, feeling as though his brain was squishing around loose inside his skull. "But yes. Blue. But that bird had," He waved his good arm around as he looked for a word. "Red. Or orange."

Kat frown slightly at this. "Can't someone have more then one colour?"

Bridge paused, carefully pulling his hand away from the feather. "Yes. But not like this. For example." He carefully flicked his exposed fingers towards Kat. "Yours is pinky orange." He said carefully, not wanting to look intrusive. "I've never really looked properly before now but I'm sure I've never seen any bright other colours like blue or green in it."

Kat tried to get her head around the green ranger's powers. "I'll run a scan on the feather." She decided after a moment, turning away with it. "And Bridge, do get some rest, okay?" Her concern was appreciated for the moment but Bridge decided now was a time for toast and not for rest.

-

The others were in the rec-room. Syd was sitting with a handful of beads and strings, making a bracelet. Sky flicked through a datapad. Z was talking to Jack quietly, both of them sitting on the sofa. All of them looked up as he entered the room. There was a silence and four question expressions.

Bridge made a gesture towards the kitchen-y bit of the room. "Toast?" He said, walking slowly towards the toaster, almost drawn by a magnetic force. Sky got up to help him and Bridge gave him such a long suffering look, he sat back down again. He could feel all four pairs of eyes boring into his back as he found bread and put it in the toaster. Jack broke the silence.

"You should be in bed. We could have brought you toast." Jack had a feeling this was about something other then toast. Bridge had never been any good at sitting still anyway and he doubted now was an exception. Bridge turned to look at him distantly, thinking to himself.

"Blue can't be orange, right?" The green ranger sighed. Z covered Jack's confused expression by replying.

"No. A colour can't be another colour, right?"

Bridge nodded, mostly to himself, "But with that guy it was. Maybe I imagined it. Or maybe he imagined me and I don't exist and I'm not saying what I'm saying right now." The toast popped from the toaster and Bridge picked it out, realising that buttering it might be a challenge with one hand. "Uhm…" He poked at the toast doubtfully. "Butter?" He asked, putting on his best _pleeeeeeaaassseee_ voice.

Z got up to help him and he smiled gratefully. "I never really thought how useful two hands are."

There was quiet for a few moments until Sky looked up from his datapad. "You're saying this crook wasn't what he seemed, Bridge?"

"When are they ever?" Syd put in with a pout, tying off a pink bracelet.

Z finished up with the toast ad piled it onto a plate. Bridge picked a slice up, munching on the corner gratefully. Mm, buttery. His damaged hand twitched at the thought and he winced.

"Just… we can't take him at face value." Bridge summed up lamely before picking up his toast plate and staggering towards the door. "Med bay." He confirmed to the second lot of puzzled glances thrown his way.

Only Sky noticed he was heading the opposite direction and the blue ranger stood to follow his friend.

-

Bridge headed for his and Sky's shared room. He needed another glove. Even brushing his fingers along the walls made him flinch. He felt dizzy again too and barely kept his old on his toast.

Reaching his room, he shuffled in and dumped the toast on Sky's overly clean desk. Dropping down to a small box, he pulled out a spare glove. Bridge began to pull off as much of the bandaging on his hand as possible, but the gauze was stuck to his wound with clotted blood and he winced. So deeply concentrating was he that he didn't notice or sense the shielded Sky until he was next to him.

Sky had even noticed the toast on his desk and hadn't said anything. That spoke volumes to Bridge.

"Bridge, you should leave that on." He said, a touch of uncertainty in his voice. Bridge didn't look up.

"I need the gloves, Sky." Was the response, unusually serious. "And one of my long sleeve shirts." He'd picked the last of the bandage free. 6 stitches held the back of his hand together. He didn't bother to hide the wince as he pulled his replacement glove on over the wound.

Sky was poking through Bridge's piles of clutter in search of a shirt, having little success. The green ranger located one immediately and fumbled it on over his green t shirt, leaving it open at the front.

"The med bay is full of horrible memories." He said quietly, the truth also making a perfect excuse. "And I need to be able to think about that feather in peace."

Sky nodded. "Know anything about the criminal we don't?"

"Called 'Banshu'." And suddenly, the serious attitude just dropped away. "Imagine Syd's face if they banned shoes.."

"I'll look it up." Sky said and walked out the room. Bridge slowly made his own way back to the med bay.

-

Kat was waiting when he got back. She raised an eyebrow disapprovingly then smiled at the toast in his hand, now reduced to two bits left. Bridge abandoned the plate again, on top of some important medical documents, before going over to Kat.

"Want some toast? It's real buttery." Again, the fingers twitched on his damaged hand but were unable to move properly.

"Maybe later, Bridge.. But I've got back the preliminaries from that feather. It's got three different DNA traces. Yours, what we're assuming is the aliens and an unidentifiable third." Bridge nodded and Kat continued.

"Secondary tests on the inside of the feather are still being carried out." She stood from where she'd been sitting on a short chair and went to the door. "I'll be back later with what we find."

Bridge frowned. This was not going very fast, was it? Perhaps it was time he did his own investigating. It took him a while to put on his boots. He left his jacket and edged to the door, then headed for the base entrance, trying to look as stable on his feet as possible.

-

Sky was in the control room searching the criminal's name. It took a lot of searching but the guy was a wanted bird on over a dozen planets, each of them beyond SPD jurisdiction. Earth would be his 14th hit. He'd broken laws on every planet, offences ranging from theft, to murder to criminal damage.

The blue ranger glanced up to the security screen and looked away before double taking. Was that Bridge in the foyer? With a sigh, he recorded his findings to his datapad and followed after him.

-

Gruumm was angry. He looked down from his throne at Banshu with utter disgust on his face.

"You could have destroyed him! Playing petty games cost us a victory!" He shouted, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Forgive me, emperor!" Banshu cawed, almost grovelling.

_Kill him._

_No. He's the one paying us._

_Kill him._

"You're not being paid to fail!" Gruumm said on cue, standing and generally looming over the bird, looking ready to reek painful punishment on the bowing creature.

Broodwing stepped forwards from the shadows. "Emperor, let me have a chance to finish what he started. Perhaps between us we could do well out of this situation."

Gruumm looked at him. "You're scum, Broodwing, but it appears I have little choice but to agree."

"Excellent emperor, I'll add the fee to your next bill." He nodded to himself. Time to go and see Piggy.

-

"Wow, you look worse then usual." Pigy leaned on the counter of his restaurant, eyeing Bridge. The green ranger was leaning against the side of the counter, glancing around himself. He was receiving suspicious looks from the clientele yet none of them had fled as usual. Maybe it was because there was only one of him and he was battered looking. Not a comforting thought.

"Piggy, have you seen a bird guy around? Like, this tall…" Bridge gestured. "Name's Banshu." Several of the café customers edged their chairs away from him but a couple were eyeing the ranger with curiosity. "You must have heard something."

"No, nothing. Can't say I've heard anything. Now go away, you're putting of my customers!" he shooed with his hands. Bridge frowned and gingerly took the glove off his damaged hand. It was easier then trying to remove his other glove with his stiff fingers. Piggy was nervous and he was also lying. Bridge stared at him vacantly.

"You sure Piggy?" He said with a small smile, eyes flicking towards the ones watching him.

"Yes, very sure. Now, uh, go bother someone else. Huh, try Gorrek in the docks. He watches who comes in and out of this city." He scowled. "Now will you go away?!"

"Thanks!" Bridge grinned and sauntered away. The two that had been watching him got up to follow, smiling nastily.

After Bridge had left, Broodwing leered from the darkness, stepping over to Piggy.

"Interesting, Piggy, you've been more help then I expected."

Piggy quailed. "Broodwing! Okay, fine. Good for me. Go away."

Broodwing did just that, taking flight towards the docks.

-

Odd place to end, I realise, but this chapter got looooooooooong! More coming soon please R&R!


	4. Information and Consequences

Another chapter, yay! If only my computer hadn't mucked itself up and restored itself to default. Ah well.

Also, I haven't been around recently on FF and I wonder if someone could tell me how to use that spiffy reply to reviews thing? Thanks in advance.

**Ms. Fairweather: **Thank you very much!

**emoprincess3587: **I'm glad you like… Oh dear, looks like Sky got delayed… I sure will keep it going. I really enjoy writing this kind of thing!

Thank you also to those of you who added this story to alerts and didn't leave a review! (But… I'd love you more if you left a review.. Think about it 3 )

And without further procrastination on my part… chapter 4!

-

Sky had lost Bridge almost immediately and now sat on a bench in the park, thinking he should probably tell the others what had happened before he did anything else. He raised his morpher to his mouth and opened a comm channel. He waited until the other three picked up before speaking. Bridge didn't pick up even though it was an open message between the five rangers.

"Hey guys, Bridge has snuck out. I was gonna catch him up but he's lost me somehow. I'm gonna configure my datapad to track his morpher."

Z replied first. "We'll come help you look for him, Sky."

"Didn't Kat say she met him in the med bay like… an hour ago?" Syd added. "He must have gone right after that."

"Either way, he's part of our team and he's our friend. He's also not the best at keeping out of trouble, especially recently. We're all gonna look." Jack finished. "Just think like Bridge, guys, then we'll find him."

Sky closed the comm. Channel. "Easier said then done." He muttered and went back to configuring his datapad.

-

Bridge had paused in his trek to the docks. He leaned against a wall, his good hand over his eyes. Should have brought some aspirin with him. His other arm still felt rather numb but his head was pounding in an unfriendly manner. Eventually, he straightened and moved his hand, to find himself faced with two of the denizens of Piggy's Restaurant.

"Give us your morpher, ranger." The one that spoke was scaled and a pale purple colour. The second was bristled with small, hedgehog like spikes on his head, brown fur accenting his cheeks.

"Give it up and we won't finish you off."

_It's going to be –my- job to finish you off. Don't fall to a couple of thugs._

Bridge was still in confusion. Must have been the second guy talking. He looked between the two distantly. Hedgehog stepped towards him menacingly and bridge went for his laser. Which wasn't there. Damn. Must have left it in the med bay.

"I'd love to guys, but uh… Oh look. A plane!" He gestured frantically then turned and ran clumsily, pulling his morpher from his belt as he did so.

"S.P.D. Emergency!"

The green ranger kept running. He could hear the footsteps of his pursuers close behind. Bridge's gait was uneven and wobbly but no way was he going to stop. He drew his sword and smashed down a pile of boxes behind him. Some part of him felt guilty as purple-scales was buried; it had really hurt when it had happened to him when fighting Banshu.

Hedgehog was angry and picked up the pace. Bridge threw himself around a corner, edging quickly between a large storage crate and a wall. Hedgehog kept running. He waited, counting slowly down from 100, before squeezing out the gap.

"That went well." He said brightly, just as purple scales caught up. Bridge whirled about and landed a kick. It was a little sloppy but it was enough. The alien went sprawling and the green ranger doubled back and headed for the docks.

-

Jack, Syd and Z met up with Sky in the park. Sky continued to try and edit the datapad as they approached.

"No need, Sky. Kat gave us this." Z sat next to the blue ranger for a moment, offering a handheld energy tracker that had been configured to follow morpher signatures. Four dots labelled 1, 2, 4 and 5 clustered in the park while 3 could be seen moving slowly towards the docks.

"Nice." Sky nodded. "I guess this'll make it easier then splitting up."

"That's the idea." Jack replied chirpily. "Let's get going."

-

_Bridge._

"Yes?"

A few passing dock workers looked at him curiously as he spoke aloud. No one replied. It was perplexing, for sure. Ah well. He'd already some up with a plan once he'd found (or not found) this 'Gorrek'. Look for places birds like to nest. Sounded like a good idea. Like that cave on the beach? All the bad guys used the cave on the beach. You'd think they'd realise it was secret any more by now.

A middle aged human with dyed red hair and sunglasses sat on a low wall, reading a newspaper. He overheard Bridge ask some passersby if they knew a Gorrek and grinned to himself, showing a couple of gold teeth. He rolled up the paper and stood, walking smartly up behind the ranger and smacking him round the head with it.

Bridge turned, rubbing a hand against his head. "Ow?" He said after a moment. His head hurt more now.

"Your stupid to be wearing bandages round here, kid." The man stated, scowling. "You'll be mugged a dozen times before you've made it half way home."

Bridge stared, almost having forgotten about the bandage around his head. He went cross eyed for a second, trying to look up at it before looking back to the guy. "Oh. Okay. Thanks. Who are you?" He started to remove the bandaging.

"Who's asking?" Came the sharp response, the paper now being waved threateningly. "And don't lie. Can't stand liars."

Bridge paused. "No one?"

There was a thud as Bridge was smacked in the head with the paper again. "The only thing I hate more then liars are people who try to be a smart-asses and fail. Who are _you_?"

"Uhm… A… Person who… uh…. Works at… a…" Bridge glanced at the guy again. "Newspaper…"

A third smack followed.

"Owwwww..." Bridge held his head again.

"You're SPD aren't you?"

"No, I—"

Smack.

"Stop lying!!" The paper was shoved in Bridge's face. "Are you always this slow or are you trying on purpose? Dogs learn faster then you seem to be!" The man grinned again now. "Anyway. You're wearing SPD uniform trousers. And you have one of those morpher things. There's only one reason for that."

"No I don't—WAIT. Sorry. Yes. I do." Bridge pulled the bandage away from his head now and ran a hand through his hair. Where the bandage had been tight, it felt like his head was expanding.

"Compulsive liar? Nice bruises by the way. You look confused as well."

Bridge stared at him. "Uh... Just who _are_ you? Seriously. Other then a guy with a newspaper. I mean, it's fair to judge you by what you're holding but it would make it far easier if I knew your name. Unless you didn't have a name, in which case—"

"GORREK!" Gorrek all but shouted in exasperation. "Now shut up! How the hell does anyone put up with you?!"

_Angry, angry. Help him find me, there's a good human._

"Why? What?" Bridge said. Gorrek stared at him.

"Because you were talking utter drivel, that's why—"

"No no, the other thing you said."

"What?"

They both looked at each other. Bridge pondering and Gorrek like he was being faced with an insane imbecile. Bridge remember suddenly that this was the guy he was looking for.

"What do you know about a crook called Banshu?" Bridge asked suddenly after a moment. Gorrek flinched at the name.

"Big time criminal on small time planets." Gorrek replied evenly. "Why?"

"I need to find him." Bridge replied, not willing to give over much more information then he had to.

_When you find us, I'll help him end your headache for good, Bridge._

"Oh. You have aspirin?" Bridge added mildly.

Gorrek had all but given up and thus chose to ignore the latest random comment.

"Banshu is a Harponean, not normally a star-travelling race. A mercenary bunch, the Harponeans. I don't know where he is, if he's on Earth at all, but I do know he'd roost at night, like other birds." Gorrek glanced up. "So in half an hour or so, you'd be good to go. But be careful. Because they don't care for space travel, not a lot is known about them. Most of what is known, is rumour. An old legend says something about those feathers on their arms:

'He who gets caught by the serrated bird, finds himself listening and yet unheard."

_It's true, that. But far too late for you._

"Okay, I'll be earlier next time. Thanks for the info."

"Yeah well, I could hardly let a dumb kid like you wander off not knowing what he's looking for." Gorrek waved him away and reopened his paper to read.

Bridge headed along the dock edge, a vacant expression on his face. So the feathers were important. And a Harponean? Maybe the base computer would hold more information then Gorrek did. Bridge smiled with satisfaction. He'd be at the bottom of this in no time.

-

"Ranger; bad news!"

The four rangers stopped in their tracking of Bridge, standing in a huddle in the docks. As Bridge walked a good 20 minute walk ahead of them, the noise of the ship-end of the docks and the crash of the sea drowned out the beeping of the communicator.

Kat sounded worried. "I still can't get through to Bridge and worse, the results have come back from the inside of that feather."

"What did they find, Kat?" Syd bit her lip.

"A liquid. Like a venom, designed to leak from the feather edges when it's cutting. It's a strong hallucinogenic mixed with the strangest mix of other compounds and DNA like I've never seen." Kat paused. "I've got no idea what it's going to do to Bridge. Bring him home as quickly as you can."

"Alright, let's suit up and take the cycles." Jack spoke. No sooner had he finished that the rangers morphed. Patrol cycles were summoned and they accelerated away, following the marker on the energy tracker.

-

And another chapter done. Phew. Please please take the time to review, and I hope you liked this chapter!


	5. Pulling Force

Chapter 5! Hurray!

**emoprincess3587: **I'm really really glad you're enjoying this! More Bridge bullying in this chapter ;

This will probably be the last of the updates every 3 days (or less!) as my typing has caught up with my hand writing for this story.. Oh, and shameless plug. I have another Bridge/SPD fanfic now so go check it out! :D

-

It was night now. The sun had set and Bridge walked along the beach, towards the bad-guy cave. It was worth a shot, right? He'd be ready this time, there was plenty of room to move and doge the bird's attacks. It'd go fine. Right? A little part of him was very very afraid.

Suddenly, none other then Broodwing landed before him, his long-fingered hands filled with Krybot orbs.

"Good evening, green ranger. I'd rather you didn't go any further." The bat threw the spheres and the robots materialised with their signature metallic noise. "You've got no chance."

Bridge looked over the crowds of robots. How many, he couldn't count. And usually, he liked to count them as he took them out. Broodwing laughed as he backed off in a fighting stance, only to find more of the Krybots behind him.

_No! This is our job! Not a task for stupid robots._

"What?" Broodwing looked taken aback. "How dare you interfere?"

Bridge at least was greatful for the distraction and he grabbed his morpher. But something was wrong.

"_Let him go, Broodwing._" Bridge growled then slapped his free hand over his mouth, forgetting entirely about morphing. What the hell just happened?! Broodwing seemed to find it amusing.

"Oh… What a surprise! I didn't think you had it in you." The bat laughed.

_It just takes time… and distractions._

Bridge was confused, a hint of fear creeping into his mind now. Usually laid back, he took things as they came but this was bad. Worse then bad. Someone, no. Something talking through him? Broodwing was laughing at his reaction to the current situation.

"Just keep him out of the cave. Your other part wouldn't be too happy about being woken now, would he?"

_Yes. This way, Bridge._

"No." Bridge frowned. Leaving would be good actually. Just leave. Leave and go back to SPD and root through the computer syste—no. Yes, leave the cave alone. No. Broodwing didn't want him there so surely all the more reason to look? Bridge suddenly clamped his hands to the sides of his head, dropping his morpher.

_Leave. Now._

"NO!" He sunk to his knees as he fought the command.

_Fine. Something easier. Take off your glove, Bridge. Take them both off._

"No… I shouldn't. I can't—"

_Yes you can, it'll be fine._

Bridge peeled the glove off his good hand slowly. A wave of a strong aura slammed into him. Broodwing's was a pale ghost of thing compared to this. It was full of feelings and ideas and thoughts.

"Now the other one." He heard himself say and couldn't help but obey. His stitched hand hurt as he pulled the glove away but he felt strangely detached from it, like someone looking into a world rather then being part of it. He found himself thinking about his friends, then about toast, then about how he felt like reordering his room as the clutter was in the wrong places. Then he remembered the toast he'd left in the med bay and wondered whether it'd been wasted or someone had eaten it.

"Now Bridge, we're going back to SPD. I want to find out about your friends. Let's just hope I can keep hold away from here." Bridge said. His words started confident but soon faded to a mutter as the green ranger fought for control of his own mind. He curled his hands to his chest in an effort to protect them like his gloves did. It helped a little but not enough. He was at the mercy of Broodwing here and whatever was in his head and he could do nothing about it.

-

The four other rangers saw the massing Krybots and the two bikes skidded to a halt, slamming into the robot army and sending them flying in various directions. Z and Syd flipped from the back of the bikes over to Bridge, easily clearing the ground.

"Bridge! Are you alright?" Syd asked over her shoulder from where she stood, drawing her sword in one smooth motion.

"He can't hear you." Bridge replied with a small laugh that did not sound Bridge-like at all then he gasped and looked up at Syd. "Help." He said simply, eyes wide.

Meanwhile, Jack and Sky were ploughing through the Krybots as if they were paper. Sparks flew as circuitry was damaged, robots collapsing and a few exploding in a burst of flame. Broodwing backed off from the fighting.

"Don't let us down!" He demanded to thin air.

_I won't._

The unspoken response was now heard by all of the rangers, each of them flinching. Syd was now crouched by Bridge, Z giving cover fire whilst the pink ranger worked out what was wrong. She took Bridge's morpher from the floor, and after some consideration, clipped it back to his belt. She picked up his fallen gloves and painstakingly replaced them for him. This took some doing as he seemed intent on bunching his hands into fists and hugging them to himself.

Although Sky and Jack were doing well, sheer numbers were becoming their enemy. Both the red and blue rangers had backed up close to their comrades, shooting anything that came too close.

"We've gotta go." Z said after a moment, hitting 3 Krybots with her blaster.

"Me 'n' Sky will take Bridge." Jack declared and they hoisted up their friend between them, putting one of his arms over each of their shoulders.

Bridge felt pain from his arm but said nothing. Infact, he did so much as twitch from his stupor, although the corners of his mouth were now turned into a very slight smirk.

-

Shorter chapter then usual but I thought it was a nice place to end! Reviews please! More on it's way.


	6. Barriers Down

Hey there, another update for yooouu

**Ms. Fairweather: ** Thank youuu!

**emoprincess3587:** Thank you! I hope you enjoy the following chapter as well

Annnnd…. Let's go!

-

"He's unconscious." Kat told the rangers for the forth time that night. None of them had gone to bed, just dozing around the rec-room in the dark, awaiting updates.

"Unconscious but we've finished checking his blood work. There's a second type of DNA in it. It's tied tightly with the hallucinogenic we found in the feather, may even be producing it. But Bridge is strong, he'll fight it off. His immune system should be attempting a start on that and he's been given strong antibiotics but they might take a while to cut in."

-

Bridge's eyes snapped open. Darkness, the med bay again. He sat up straight and swung his legs off the bed, putting on his boots. He took his gloves off now and left them on the bed. Without another look about himself, he left the room, eyes looking rather vacant.

-

"Emperor."

"Broodwing." Gruumm turned his head slightly to glare at the mercenary. "You'd better have something good to report."

"Ah, something better then good. Bashu's Other has managed to get into the green ranger's head, at least for now." Broodwing remained in the shadows at the edge of the chamber.

"Only for now?" Was the growling, irritated response.

"It can only become permanent if the Other's current body comes in contact with the green ranger. Something I can arrange. For a price."

"Yes. I thought it might be as much. Go, find the Other's current form and bring it to Earth." Gruumm nodded. "Also, have Banshu lure out the green ranger again… and if he's feeling more then simply helpful, have his Other steal us some SPD data as well."

-

Bridge punched his code into the door for the control room and went inside. He walked silently to the main computer and opened the search function.

"_Harponeans_." He said quietly, typing it in and pressing enter.

The limited amount of data appeared on the screen, mentioning the feathers and their effects as well as the last record incident of exposure to the feather's chemicals. Bridge hit delete and entered his code. No more helpful hints for the others. Stepping back, he turned only to be confronted with Kat, her arms folded.

"Anything you've deleted, we can recover." She stated simply. "Go back to the med bay, Bridge."

Bridge stared at her blankly. "_Bridge isn't answering right now_." He said after a moment and Kat tensed at this, her eyes narrowing.

"_Aw, you want to talk to him? Go ahead_." The Other's sneer was suddenly gone and replaced with a frown. "What were you saying? Wait, no. Hi Kat. Where am I?" Bridge looked around the room. "Huh?" He blinked, looked back to Kat and seemed to remember. "Kat all the other rangers. I think that guy in my head wants to kinda… destroy this place..." His words faded away.

"_That's enough of that useless rambling_." Bridge glared again now. Kat edged around him slowly before suddenly pouncing on the alarm button. The sirens blared and Bridge grabbed Kat's wrist, wrenching her back, away from the control console. She gasped in pain then threw a side kick to his chest, making him let go and stumble back slightly. He would have attacked again, had Cruger not appeared at the door. Kat looked at him then back to Bridge, tensed.

"It's Bridge, Commander. Something is controlling him."

Cruger growled low. This had happened twice before. But suddenly, he had an idea. Syd had been controlled by an outside source before and morphing had broken that connection off. Kat had said Bridge was infected but maybe it was an outside source as well? Maybe they could lessen this creature's hold on Bridge. Cruger couldn't explain it to the others though. Then the creature might catch on and wouldn't morph at all.

"S.P.D. emergency!" Cruger morpher immediately. "Shadow Sabre!" He drew the sword and the scratched, chipped blade gleamed anew in his hands. Bridge's eyes flicked towards the door and Kat stood aghast.

"He's still Bridge, Commander!" She gasped as Cruger circled the green ranger, making him edge towards the exit now.

"Is he?" Said Cruger and feigned a lunge. Something in his movement and voice assured Kat.

Bridge ran straight down the corridors, heading for the foyer. Cadets, guards and scientists were shoved out of the way in his bid for freedom. It was in the front courtyard that Cruger caught him up.

"You've got no hope, whoever you are. Leave my cadet alone!" He readied the blade to lunge again.

"_You're no threat to me, Cruger. You'd never hurt one of your own_." Bridge scoffed, waving a hand dismissively.

"We'd rather not, but we can't just let you run around doing what you want!"

The four other rangers appeared, morphed, Jack at point and the one that had spoken. The five rangers spread out and eventually pegged Bridge into a tight circle.

"Fight it, Bridge!" Syd called to him, worry obvious in her tone.

"It's no use talking. Attack. Now. That's an order." Cruger tensed and at the tone of his voice, everyone was too shocked to argue.

"_You forget. I'm in the body of a ranger_." Bridge grabbed his morpher as Cruger jumped high; looking as though he was going to bring his sword down on Bridge. Bridge morpher and visibly relaxed until Cruger turned his blow aside so the green ranger was hit with the blade flat. Bridge ended up on his butt but his body language showed his relief.

"Back with us, Cadet?" Cruger rest his sword on his shoulder.

"Y… Yes sir. I think." Bridge replied, sounding shocked. Wow, it felt good to be able to wriggle his fingers again (even if they were rather stiff). Gorrek had been right. He'd heard and seen everything but no one had heard him.

"Do not demorph." Cruger stated as the four others did the very thing.

_This won't keep me out._

"I don't care." Seeing Cruger's expression, Bridge straightened. "That was directed at the voices in my head... Not as you. Uh. Sir? I think he's having a tantrum. If voices can have tantrums." His head hurt again now. Maybe it was a side effect of the whole no-free-will thing.

"Good to have you back, Bridge." Z smiled.

"We're not out of the woods yet." Kat joined the gathering. "I read the backs up what was deleted. An article about a previous victim of 'the Other virus'. It's a kind of parasite, take over a host body but part of it is part of every Harponean. It's one of the reasons they're not a star-faring race. All Harponeans are born with an Other in their feathers, but the Other needs it's own full body. The Other affecting Bridge is part of Banshu and this Other's body has very recently been broken out of a top security prison. I hope all of that made sense." She paused, looking at Bridge.

"Containment cards should stop all effects of its mind control and the antibiotics will finish the job, but while you're influenced, you must not touch the Other's host or it will drop that body and take you over completely." She finished to a stunned silence.

"I… understand, Kat." Bridge broke the silence. "But I can't stay morpher forever. And I need to capture Banshu—"

"No." Jack interjected. "I'm not letting you risk you touching that Other guy and getting taken over for good. We'll go, you stay here."

"I will accompany you." Cruger added after a moment of silent thought.

"Then Villain Cave on the Beach it is." Z said after a moment though she didn't sound particularly happy.

"Sit back and relax, Bridge. This'll be a piece of cake. We won't be long." Sky patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly. Bridge really hoped he was right.

-

Okay, all done. I have written up another 10 pages by hand soo.. Just gotta type it up! Expect a few updates soonish! Please review you guy :D


	7. They All Fall Over

Chapter 7 now. These are gong be coming thick and fast until I catch up with my handwriting again!

**Ms. Fairweather:** Thanks a tonne! I'm glad you liked it. Cranky evil guys are fun xD We should all have one in our heads :P

**emoprincess3587: **I'm so glad you and Ms. Fairweather are liking this story so much! Yar, hand cramps are starting to be a pain when it comes to writing this out by hand! But I can type at around 70-80 words per minute so typing it up isn't too bad!

But now… I give you Chapter 7!

-

The thought of toast is a torment when you're morpher, Bridge decided. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning and he was feeling it now he had a moment of peace. He was also getting some very confused looks as he sat, morphed, on the sofa in the rec room. He hadn't told any of the other SPD personnel what was going on and didn't plan to. That was until Boom came in and sat next to him.

"Hi Bridge." He said with a smile. He then paused for a second before getting straight to the point. "What's with the ranger-thing? You're not stuck in there or something are you? Not even Kat will tell me what's going on."

Bridge looked at him until he fidgeted then leaned back on the sofa. "I'm testing how long I can stay morphed?" He said after thinking about it, sounding too questioning to be believable. "I sure could use something to eat now though."

Boom grinned. "I'll get you something if you like? I'm glad you're out of the med bay. I could use a hand with the trans-dimensional crystals they found recently on the 4th moon of Neptune…"

The rambling made Bridge smile behind his helmet and he relaxed very slightly, feeling the ache of his various fights throughout his body. The pain killer in his arm was starting to wear off too. Boom was off rambling again and Bridge soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

-

_He stood in a dark cave, Banshu working at a desk next to him. He prowled around, unsheathing his claws and slamming them into the table next to Banshu._

"_We must go to him. My hold is weakening."_

"_In time." Banshu replied. "But first, security cameras are picking up five energy readings; five rangers." The Harponean tapped a button on its keyboard, the screen changing to show a jeep and two cycles tearing up the beach towards them._

"_Time to place." Said the Other. He took Broodwing's orange-head summoning spikes from the bench, one in each hand, while Banshu retrieved the orb-like Krybot ones._

_The pair stood at the cave mouth as the rangers left their vehicles and assembled in a line. The yellow one spoke._

"_S.P.D.! You're under arrest!"_

_The Other laughed, Banshu cawed his amusement and they threw the spheres to the floor._

"_Let's play first." Banshu declared, throwing himself into the fray. The Other hung back._

_Cruger went for Banshu whilst Jack went for an orange head. Sky was forced to confront a half dozen Krybots as well as an orange head. Syd and Z were pinned away from the blue ranger but played tag-team like they did so well and fought against a sea of Krybots._

_The blue ranger was taken down first, sent rolling away over the sand by the orange head. He got to his feet only briefly before the Other stepped forwards, claws extended. Sky tensed and drew a shield, the psi-field shattering as the Other's blow. The blue ranger was thrown far back and into the ocean._

"_SKY!" Jack tried to evade his orange head foe and help his friend but was given no quarter and was forced to confront his own enemy again._

_Syd and Z remained pegged in, back to back, their sabres in hand._

"_This is getting ridiculous." Syd complained, taking out a Krybot with a neat fencing move._

"_Agreed." Z replied. "Times like this when we could do with an extra pair of hands."_

_Cruger was doing alright but neither he nor Banshu could gain the upper hand. There would be the occasional moment when it looked like one or the other might win but the other of the pair never backed down. It was a possibility that Cruger could have won by sheer endurance had the Other not come up behind him and slashed it's claws into his back. Cruger landed heavily and Banshu stamped mercilessly on his downed foe._

_It was at this moment that Jack smacked down next to the shadow ranger with an 'ow', and also the moment where Sky finally dragged himself out of the sea. The Other stalked over to the blue ranger and grabbed him harshly about his arm, dragging him up the beach to drop by Cruger and Jack. Banshu and the Other laughed again, raising claws and talons high to bring down on their fallen foes._

"_Let's finish them off." Banshu cawed. _

_Syd and Z broke through the ring of Krybots and brought their swords down on Banshu and the Other._

"_Back off, Feather Brain." Syd shouted as the girls put themselves between their downed comrades and the enemy. Krybots swarmed, the two orange heads behind the pair and the criminals in front. One orange head fired it's lasers and Syd and Z were thrown forwards onto the sand._

"_Too easy." The orange head stated, resting it's weapon on it's shoulder._

"_Yes, but they're more intelligent then we expected, not bringing the green ranger." The Other muttered in frustration._

"_He'll soon be the only ranger." Banshu laughed and the Other and the orange heads joined in._

_-_

Bridge woke with a start and promptly fell off the sofa. On the floor, he put a hand to his face then remembered he was morphed. That dream… He remembered it all clearly. His brain ached from it. His friends were in danger. Whether a vision or current events, he had to help. How long had he been here? The rec room was still busy but Boom had gone. Bridge looked at the clock. It had only been 20 minutes or so. The green ranger got to his feet and headed for the garage and his patrol cycle.

However, luck was against him. Kat was there already, tinkering with RIC. Boom had filled her lab with so much stuff recently that she had no where else to work. At least that's what she said. General consensus was that it was quieter in the garage. She looked up as Bridge entered, already having worked out why he was here.

"No, Bridge. It's too risky." She said calmly, looking back to RIC who barked. Bridge edged towards his bike.

"But they're in deep trouble, Kat. I know it. I kinda saw it all happen. Kind of." He reached his bike and put a hand on the handlebars.

Kat looked up again and stared at him for a long time. "I thought this might happen so I brought these down here with me." She left RIC for a moment to dig around on the table she was working at. After a moment, she drew out a pair of red ranger blasters. "Longer range then your sword or laser." She said simply. "And combine them if you have to. But whatever you do, whatever happens, don't touch the other." She looked worried now, biting her lip slightly.

Bridge nodded solemnly, taking the blasters and swapping his sword and laser for them. They were a little loose in the belt holsters. "For this Kat, I'll make you as much toast as you like."

Kat watched him go, a sad smile on her face. She had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

-

That's all for now folks. More soon. Review please.


	8. Short yet decisive

3 long months of abandonment, has this story received. *tear*

I think you lot deserve the next chapter at least, right? I hand wrote it all and just never typed it up. (You can blame college for that...)

Thank you to the 3 that left reviews for chapter 7. Love you loads :D

And so...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Every minute more the drive to the beach took, Bridge's apprehension rose. It was so extremely risky but he had to fight and he had to win. He only hoped it wasn't too late.

He pulled up a little way from the cave, drawing the blasters and walking cautiously up the beach.

_Ah, so you did come._

Great, his cover blown already.

_You're too late. Broodwing is already here to take your friends to Gruumm. The Emperor is most please, especially now he can exact his revenge on Cruger._

The Other was just visible at the mouth of the cave, watching the green ranger's approach.

"Stupid ranger." He said aloud as Bridge got close enough to hear.

Bridge paused a dozen feet away, if not more. The Other's current body was tall, powerful and obviously from a rather feral species. It had long claws on it's fingers, fangs dripping from it's jaw. It was practically armoured and all the bits that were not were heavily furred, or feathered. It was hard to tell.

"Ah, I forget this is the first time ypou have seen mu current body." The Other grinned, exposing even more teeth, if that were possible. He took a step forwards and Bridge snapped up the blasters to a firing position, his shoulder hurting in protest. The Other paused.

"So you know what it takes for me to switch host? Very well. Just got to force you to still then." He looked over his shoulder.

"Banshu! Bring me a ranger would you? Any one will do."He called, rather too calmly.

Bridge started forwards then stopped as he remembered he couldn't physically attack his foe. "Let them go!" He shouted, then fired once. The Other took the laser blast, unmoving as Banshu appeared with Z in tow. She was unmorphed and looked slightly battered and bruised.

Bridge was some what unused to duel blasters but he trained one on each of the criminals anyway, looking between them and very unsure what to do.

"Let her go!" He didn't know what else he could have said. It sounded so corny.

"Bridge! What the hell are you doing here?! Go back to SPD!" Z tried to pull away from Banshu but he tightened his grip on her arm. The Other looked between them.

"I'm not a completely unreasonable being. A straight swap will suffice. Yellow ranger for green." He grinned again now, loving it as Bridge visibly squirmed.

"Don't, Bridge." Z looked straight at him now and her expression gave the green ranger an idea. He slowly holstered one laser; a mock show of faith.

"Alright. Okay." He said eventually. Banshu relaxed slightly. Z must have felt it as she dropped forwards and her eyes flashes yellow as she cloned. The three Z's took Banshu down in a single synchronised kick, then two of the three continued to fight as the third went to Bridge.

"Blaster?" She asked and bridge gave her the one he was holding, drawing the second again. They aimed again towards the criminals but the other had gone. Banshu knocked the one remaining Z clone to the floor and it vanished. He looked up to find two blasters on him and two very irritated rangers.

"You're under arrest for attacking SPD officers, murder, theft, assault and uh... loads of other really bad stuff. Judgement mode!" Bridge declared.

"What?! No!" Banshu protested as Bridge held up his morpher in judgement mode. Then the bird laughed it's mocking, cawing laugh. "This doesn't change a thing. My friend has taken your friends to Gruumm and you, my green friend, will be taken as a new host for my Other."

Bridge tried to ignore him as the red cross showed. "Guilty. Like. Really guilty. No suprises there." He said after a moment's pause, trying to ignore the laughter that rang in his ears.

"Blaster time?" Z suggested and Bridge nodded.

The shot hit the bird straight and there was a small tongue of fire before the containment card clattered to the sands.

Up on Gruumm's ship, the Other howled.

Bridge went to pick up the card but ended up sitting next to it instead. Z eventually crouched next to him.

"Long couple of days, huh?" He said after a moment.

"You can say that again." She replied.

"Long couple of days—Oh right. Saying. Not literally." He paused. "I never thought I'd say this but I wish I wasn't morphed."

Z nodded sympathetically. "Let's go back to base and see what Kat says." She stood and offered her hand. Bridge took it and she helped him up as he picked the containment card from the sand.

"One day, a really large amount to go."

-

All done. A short one, I know, but the next bit fits better if this bit ends here... if that makes sense? Read and review, my lovelies! :sD


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